Tension
by Paca La Roseta
Summary: Carla / Michelle pairing. Set just before the time of Frank's trial. As more and more comes to light, tensions are heightened and things become evermore complicated.
1. Chapter 1

Tension

It had been a long and busy week at Underworld, with everyone stressing about one thing or another, especially the deadline of latest order, an order crucial in maintaining the factory's livelihood.

However, for Carla the tension was amplified, not only did she have to deal with keeping the factory alive but she also had the upcoming rape trial worrying her to no end and keeping her affair with Peter a secret seemed to be a lot harder than she had originally imagined especially considering Stella's eagle eye.

She sometimes wondered if it was really worth it bearing in mind the repercussions it would have on her court case if they were found out, after all having an affair with a married man would hardly make a brilliant character reference particularly since Frank's defence centred around the accusation of her of having started the affair while they were still together and saying that she'd cried rape as a way to get rid of him without losing part of her business.

Michelle had been Carla's backbone ever since she'd returned from the cruise ship and helped her attempt to piece things together again, she'd been a lifesaver and Carla couldn't thank her friend enough.

But for the past couple of days she'd been acting strangely, while Carla had always known Michelle to have a bit of a temper, Michelle had been practically avoiding her for days and when they did have to converse Michelle exchanged as few words as possible, what she did say bordered on cold and seemed brimmed with intent.

Since Kieran's departure Michelle had been staying in Carla's flat and so that had made the past few days even more awkward for them, even if Michelle had tried to keep her distance as much as she could, spending time in the pub and then going to bed as soon as she got home.

At work, however, there was only so much that Michelle could keep away from Carla, taking into account that they worked in a small office together and that Carla was her boss.

It was Friday morning, they'd been in the office for nearly an hour without saying anything to each other, Carla was getting fed up but she really didn't know what she could do. Michelle shuffled through her drawers desperately looking for some sort of paperwork.

"For fucks sake, where the hell are you? I know you're in here, because I put you in here yesterday" she muttered to herself while wildly rummaging through the drawers.

Carla laughed and tried to break the ice "What you looking for?" she asked.

Michelle looked up from the drawer momentarily to look at Carla sternly, "Nothing." She responded frostily before going back to her search but Carla interrupted her again.

"Michelle, would you stop stropping like a baby, you're becoming really unpleasant to work with."

"Fire me then." Michelle replied flippantly not even bothering to look up this time.

While earlier she'd shrugged off and laughed at Michelle's behaviour, she was now becoming aggravated as she really didn't understand what it was that had caused it. "For God's sake 'Chelle. What the hell has gotten into you? You're acting loopy!"

Michelle kept her head down and breathed in deeply, trying to hold back her emotions, if she was honest she wasn't really sure what had gotten into her either and if she was going to explain to Carla she would have to explain everything. Missing out some of the details would mean it wouldn't any make sense at all, she wasn't sure if the whole truth made much sense anyway.

She needed some fresh air and some time to think "I'm going to pick up the pink satin order" she announced to Carla, this time in a slightly kinder tone of voice, grabbing her coat and her car keys, quickly rushing out the door before Carla had time to reply.

* * *

><p>It had all started Tuesday morning when Carla had, whilst adjusting her makeup, casually dropped that she was about to go to a meeting in town. "She's in an oddly good mood" Michelle had thought to herself while watching Carla applying her lip-gloss to those luscious lips. Michelle thought back, she was sure Carla hadn't made any note of it in the office diary and even though Carla always looked great, it seemed odd that Carla was making this much effort to meet a potential client, Michelle wasn't convinced.<p>

It had barely been 5 minutes since Carla had left when her phone began to ring in the office, "Damn" Michelle thought to herself, Carla had forgotten to take her mobile with her; quickly she grabbed to phone, ready to pick it up in case Carla's client was desperately trying to contact her. As she picked up the phone she saw _Peter calling _flashing upon the screen, "What does he want?" she wondered, promptly putting the phone down again allowing it to go to voicemail.

She carried on with her work, but when Carla's phone beeped a moment later to show she'd received a voicemail, Michelle could not contain her curiosity about what it was that Peter wanted any longer. Michelle was not a naturally nosey person, she felt guilty doing what she was about to do and yet, there was something inside her which couldn't stop her fingers pressing the keys to reach Carla's voicemail inbox.

"You have one message" the automated voice said "Message one - _Hey love, sorry I'm going to be a little bit late to your flat but I'm on my way there now, was held up in the bookies because Leanne wanted to talk and it was hard to make excuses ... you know how it is ... well you can imagine anyway ... but yeah I haven't forgotten, been thinking about you all night, see you in a tick." _Next Michelle heard a beep and the automated voice again announcing "End of messages".

She put the phone down, realising that her hands were now all clammy, she suddenly felt sick to her stomach. Carla and Peter were having an affair, how had she not realised this sooner, was she stupid? Why had Carla not told her, were they not good friends? She tried to convince herself that she was purely upset because she had not been told, because their affair was wrong, he was married to Leanne after all. However, as she started to well up and to feel queasier by the minute she knew at the back of her mind that this wasn't the real reason behind why she felt upset, why she felt devastated in fact.

There as a knock at the door "Come in." she said briskly wiping the tears from her eyes and brushing strands of dark hair away from her face. It was Sean.

He looked at her puzzled "Michelle ... are you alright?" he asked seeming concerned.

"Fine" Michelle lied while feigning a smile. "What is it you wanted Sean?"

"Well I was wondering when we could go on our lunch break ..." he looked at her with a glimmer of hope.

Michelle rolled her eyes, "Fine, you can go now if you want, tell the others."

"Thank you soooo much." he said before hurrying out the door.

Michelle was then left alone in the factory, she cried for a good few minutes about the whole thing before telling herself to get a grip, this sort of behaviour was pathetic, she would not be sad about this, she would not be weak, but she couldn't help but feel angry, she had to channel her emotions somehow.

* * *

><p>As Michelle drove to collect the material she thought back to the incident that had taken place earlier in the week, feelings began to rush back to her as she began to feel nearly as sick as she had that afternoon. Deep down she knew she was more upset than angry at Carla and it wasn't for any of the reasons she kept convincing herself it was either.<p>

She wasn't sure of anything anymore, except for the fact that ignoring and being a bitch to Carla at every opportunity had not made her feel any better at all, in fact it had made this week even worse. She loved chatting about nothing with Carla, having a giggle at the expense of the factory workers from time to time and gossiping about their clients. She knew she just had to get over it, this thing that had built up inside her. It wasn't worth ruining everything for.

She mulled it all over in her head, she would just collect the pink satin and drive back to the factory and when she got back she'd make them some coffee, crack some bad joke and everything would be back to normal again. It would all be fine. It was the right thing to do. It was what she should do. It was what she wanted to do?

She thought things over again before deciding what she would do; there was no going back now, she had made her mind up.

_**This is the first piece of fan fiction I've ever written, so I'm not really sure how it is. It would be great if people could review and give me a little construcive criticism on how to improve. I will write more / put another chapter up if people want me to. xxx**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Thanks for all the reviews I've gotten so far, really been appreciated. Sorry this chapter has taken so long to be put up, I just found it hard to write it and express the emotions correctly and so it took really long. I'm not really sure if it's come out quite how I wanted it but I hope you like it. Please review, thanks!**_

* * *

><p>Michelle got out of her car, this was it; things wouldn't carry on like this anymore, this situation was just far too silly and she was bored of the spending hours in front of her desk not uttering a word. She began to walk towards the factory with purpose, striding confidently towards the door.<p>

However, as she got inside the factory her mood began to change. She really was not sure if she was making the right decision about all of this, despite having spent what felt like an age thinking through every detail of it intricately.

Instead of going straight to Carla's office to sort the mess out she backtracked, firstly going to the stock cupboard to put down the pink satin. "Coffee" she then thought to herself "I really feel like some and I'm sure Carla does too", but in reality she didn't really feel like coffee in the slightest and was pretty sure if she did drink it that it would all come back up again, even the smell of it was making her stomach turn. She stirred the mugs over and over before stopping, realising that if she stirred them any longer they would be cold and the factory workers would think that she'd either developed OCD overnight or had just completely lost it. She had completely lost it hadn't she?

She couldn't just stand around any longer, so she headed over to Carla's office, "No going back now" she thought to herself before taking a deep breath and opening the office door. She didn't realise that she'd absentmindedly forgotten the cups of coffee.

As she Michelle began to walk in she realised that Carla was on the phone, so closed the door as quietly as she possibly could behind her and stood with her back to it, waiting apprehensively for Carla to finish her call where they would have no choice but to talk. She fiddled self-consciously with her black locks whilst looking down at the floor, occasionally glancing around the room but still avoiding eye contact with Carla for as long as she could.

Carla put down the phone and turned to look at Michelle. "Michelle" she said "Nice of you to grace us with your presence again, you'd gone off for so long I thought you were so pissed off that you'd run off to never return and with the amount of work we have on at the moment it would have been more than a little annoying."

Michelle laughed feebly while chewing her lip nervously. "Did you get all the pink satin alright?" Carla enquired "'cos last time we ordered from them 'alf the material weren't the right colour and we had to return it."

Michelle nodded "Yeah, it's all alright as far as I know, you can check if you like, it's all in the stock room."

"Nah, I'm sure it'll be alright." Carla said as she looked back down to her desk to carry on with her work.

Michelle stood there, still in the same position she had been since she's entered Carla's office, she couldn't stand there hoping the right words might come for any longer. "Uhmmm Carla..."

"Yes, Michelle ..." Carla responded, vaguely glancing up from her desk, half paying attention.

"Uhmmm can I have a word with you ... about umm something... important" said Michelle edging over to Carla's desk, struggling to form a coherent sentence.

At this point Michelle had successfully grabbed Carla's attention, who now looked at Michelle in a demanding but slightly worried way. "What's this about?" she asked desperately wanting an answer but Michelle didn't have a clue where to begin.

Michelle sat on the chair in front of Carla's desk, facing her. She started talking at a million miles an hour convincing herself that if she said everything really quickly it might seem less horrific or significant. "Basically" she began "you know earlier this week, like a few days ago, Tuesday or something, when you had that meeting this on, the one which you hadn't written in the diary and then you went off to that..."

"Oh, I'm about to hear the explanation as to why you've been acting like a moody cow all week, aren't I?" Carla interrupted, starting to feel confused and a little more worried.

"Yeah emmm I don't know how to say this really..." Michelle said before backtracking "oh shii... sugar I left the coffee I made, it's going to be a little cold now, better go and get it" she continued starting to rise from her chair, any distraction to escape the situation she'd know gotten herself into.

But now Carla wanted to know, why was it that Michelle had been acting odd all week? When Michelle had returned to the office seeming less cold, she'd begun to think less of it and had thought that it had maybe been just a bad case of PMS. But now Michelle seemed to be acting even weirder than before, she seemed nervous and was trying to get out of the situation she'd just got herself into. What had happened earlier this week?

"Oh for God's sake Michelle!" Carla said feeling frustrated "forget the bloody coffee and spit it out."

Michelle had no choice but to reveal as to what had caused her change in behaviour "Okay, so on Tuesday, when you went out, you left your phone in the office and well it started to ring, so I thought I'd better check it in case it was the client trying to get hold of you before the meeting and you obviously wouldn't be able to get their call. So I picked up your phone and I saw it was Peter calling."

At this point Carla's heart dropped as she understood what Michelle had found out, she'd tried to keep it a secret but she was still unsure how Michelle had come to the conclusion they were together just from him calling her, after all Michelle knew Peter had helped her with her drinking problem. But as Michelle continued the story, it was soon clarified for Carla.

"I did wonder what Peter wanted but I put the phone down and let it ring to voicemail. But then you got a message saying you'd got a voicemail, and well, well I guess curiosity got the better of me and I well ummm listened to it I guess." Michelle didn't need to go into it any further; she didn't want to actually say it out loud because it made it real.

Carla laughed sombrely "And then you found out I was having a _sordid affair_ with Peter."

"Yeah" Michelle admitted weakly. There was silence as neither of them knew what to say, there had clearly been betrayal on both sides and they were well aware of this. While Michelle had intruded on Carla's privacy by listening to her voicemail messages, Carla had kept Michelle in the dark about her and Peter's relationship which didn't seem right considering how close they were, best friends even.

Carla broke the silence. "Well, that explains a lot then..." she said "look Michelle, I could hardly tell you considering the trial and all that, the less people that know the better."

Michelle stared blankly at Carla, not revealing any sort of emotion or saying anything.

Carla continued "And I mean look at the way you've reacted, you can hardly blame me for keepin' it quiet, can ya?"

"I know that but ..." Michelle began but was interrupted by Carla.

"I know what you're going to say, that it's wrong what we're doing. What about Leanne? Why do I always go for the men who are taken? Married even. I don't go out to be a homewrecker, I didn't plan for it to happen, it just did. We tried to fight it but we couldn't. I love him!"

She loved him, of course she did, and unfortunately it was obvious. Michelle really didn't know how to how to respond to it. "I see" she replied to show she had heard what Carla had said but nothing more.

"What do you want me to say Michelle?"

Michelle continued to stare blankly into space, "I dunno."

"Why were you looking at my phone anyway?"

"I guess something clicked when Peter called, I realised something wasn't quite right. I understood what had brought a smile back to your face these past few weeks, who it was that had brought a smile to your face for that matter. It wasn't me that's for sure." Michelle sighed.

"Oh 'Chelle, your efforts haven't gone unappreciated. You've been great company and cheered me up you know, sorted out the factory and helped me get up on track, I'm eternally grateful. But yanow, Peter's just made things that extra bit brighter. I don't really know what else I can say ... I mean we're planning on telling people after the trial, can we just carry on as normal until then? I don't really want another week like this one."

Michelle couldn't just let things carry on without doing what she'd promised herself she'd do whilst she'd been in the car contemplating. "No Carla, I don't think we can 'just carry on' and pretend I don't know or that it's just all okay. I really need to tell you something." She said looking down at the desk in front of her.

"There's something else?" asked Carla, not really knowing what to expect.

"Yes" replied Michelle crazily gnawing at her own lip, pausing for a while.

"Just say it then" Carla said pleadingly, wanting to get this all over and done with.

"I really don't know how to say this" Michelle began, she had been restraining herself from crying for the most part of their conversation but she was now at breaking point. She inhaled deeply and swallowed trying to fight the inevitable but tears just began to roll down her cheeks.

As Carla saw this she became even more confused, "Michelle?" she asked forcing eye contact with her, while getting up in attempt to comfort her.

Carla leaned forward to brush away Michelle tears but Michelle just pushed her away "Get off me" she said forcefully.

With that Carla backed off "Look Michelle, just fucking tell me what this is all about."

"It's about me and you and the fact that well living together has just made me feel as if maybe..." Michelle said while staring into space, stopping as she choked on her tears. She attempted to start again "that I've started to develop these feeling for..." she stopped again not being able to bring herself to finish that sentence. She began to sob again before finally exclaiming "Just thinking about you and Peter together makes me feel sick."

There was silence as Carla tried to make sense of it all, was Michelle really trying to say what she thought Michelle was. "What the hell Michelle?" she said, "Are you saying that you well ... fancy me?"

Michelle sat uncomfortably on her chair not able to say anymore, but nodded her head admitting it.

Carla was shocked to no end, "Oh my god..." she really had no other words.

Michelle felt so humiliated, she knew she'd told herself that it was what she had to do, that she couldn't keep it a secret any longer but the reality of it all seemed far too much. She had hardly expected Carla to reciprocate her feelings but the look that Carla was now giving her made her want to crawl into a hole and die. She picked up her handbag off the desk and her coat of the hanger and stormed out the door and out the factory.

Carla hadn't meant to make Michelle feel so stupid, after all she was flattered, Michelle was fucking gorgeous and one of the loveliest people she knew, but she shocked to no end. She'd never seen this coming, as Michelle wasn't _like that_ was she? As Michelle ran out the office she tried to call after her. "'Chelle, please come back, we need to talk about this."

But it was too late, Michelle had run off. There was an eerie silence in the factory as all the workers had witnessed Michelle storming off, make-up running down her face. However, this was quickly replaced by the noise of the workers gossiping, coming up with various theories as to what might have been the cause of what had just happened, none of them true, obviously.

"And I thought that things couldn't be any more messed up than they already were" Carla thought to herself "quite clearly not." How had things become this messed up? She comforted herself with the fact that she was due to meet Peter in an hour and that always made her day but not two second later did she receive a text from him saying "Really sorry Carla love, can't meet up this afternoon, I tried my best to but it's just not going to be possible darling, ttyl. Love you Peter".

"_Great_" Carla said to herself as she got back to work on her computer, trying to figure out how she'd ever sort her life out.


	3. Chapter 3

**Haven't updated in over a year which I do apologise for. Found this chapter I had written last year. It's not great but I might as well post it. Might try updating when I get home if anyone is still interested.**

After Michelle had left, although the factory floor was buzzing with the gossip of co-workers, Carla was left with a ghostly silence in the office. Carla hoped that she'd come back soon so they could at least talk it over. Carla tried to get back to work and write up the invoice for the new order but it was hard to work with so much on her mind, especially now she wasn't going to be able to see Peter this afternoon which would have been a good distraction.

Carla was becoming more than a little annoyed with Peter because he kept on making excuses as to why they couldn't meet up. As much as she tried to be rational about the situation and tell herself that it was not his fault, he had to play doting husband to Leanne so the suspicion would be avoided, she couldn't help but feel angry and jealous. When she was in bed at night feeling lonely, she imagined waking up tomorrow and telling everyone the truth about her and Peter. That way they could live their lives like a real couple, instead of snatching moments here and there, when it was convenient for Peter, when he didn't have to be with Leanne.

As much as she hated the situation, she had to remind herself that it was for the best, for the good of the trial. If anything were to come out about her and Peter's affair now she would be done. She'd be instantly branded a guilty home wrecker whose rape allegations were a work of fiction fabricated so she could be with Peter while not losing part of the factory. All the sacrifices she had made over the past month or so, having to take the back seat as Peter's mistress, 'the other woman' would be entirely in vain.  
>She decided that she would temporarily let the matter of Peter drop, think about something else, all that mattered was that she loved him and he probably had a good excuse as to why he hadn't been able to meet her today anyway.<p>

Leaving the topic of Peter at the back of her mind, only made her think about what had happened with Michelle again. As much as she wanted to avoid what had just happened, she couldn't. It wasn't that Carla was repulsed in any way by what Michelle had said to her or was freaked out as such. She was just in a state of utter confusion as what had just taken place. Since Carla had known Michelle, she'd dated more men than she could count - Kieran, Steve, hell she'd even dated Peter once upon a time and that was only naming a few. Michelle was absolutely stunning; she could have any man she wanted, why did she want her?

The afternoon seemed to drag on forever at the factory for Carla especially without Michelle for company. Not only did she have nothing to look forward to now Peter had cancelled their plans, but the meeting she was supposed to be going to had also been postponed. She wished that time would hurry up so she could just go home and put an end to this day; she had lost the willpower to work and all concentration. Outside her office it seemed that the workers too had lost all motivation and concentration as their loud chatter was beginning to give her a headache. She looked at the clock ahead 'half past four' it read, an hour until everyone was meant to go home but she could tell that no one was achieving anything by being there.

Carla got up from her chair which she'd been slumped on for what felt like days and walked out the office. 'Go home' she simply said to everyone. As they noticed her their conversations seized and they looked at her confused at what she'd just said. Carla was normally the type to give them overtime, not to let them home an hour early. 'Don't look at me so confused, yes I'm letting you go an hour early, not that it'll make much difference considering the rates of production this afternoon. Now please would you be kind enough to move, get your coats and vacate this factory so that I might hear myself think'. They didn't need to be told twice as they packed up their stuff and headed toward the Rovers leaving Carla alone in the factory.

Carla returned to her office and breathed in deeply. She was even more confused about what to do with herself now everybody had left. She too could have gone to the Rovers to drink her sorrows away but there weren't many people that she actually wanted to see right now. And she really couldn't go back to her flat, not on her own, she didn't feel safe in there by herself since the whole ordeal and she was sure Michelle wouldn't be there after the incident earlier on in the day. Unsure of where to go she decided that would remain in the office for a bit longer, trying her best to get something done.  
>For a while she did manage to work but she couldn't fight the fact that her brain was completely elsewhere. She looked at her phone, still no contact had been made from Peter or Michelle, they were her support system and she needed them. She sighed and decided as they weren't there she would catch up with her other closest friend... alcohol.<p>

She got out the half empty bottle of whiskey for her desk drawer and took a swig, and then another and another, thinking about things had managed to go so wrong. She thought about Frank and what he had done to her but it wasn't what was making her feel the most fragile and emotional right now. She thought about Peter, she loved him so much but she couldn't help feeling angry at him for choosing Leanne over him at this moment in time. As much as she tried to tell herself it was for the best as no one could find out until the trial over, she began to wonder if Peter even intended for anyone to find out at all and if he'd ever really leave Leanne. Drinking herself into oblivion seemed to be the best way to escape her reality.


End file.
